In Hong Kong, many imported fruit and vegetables are consumed in the local market or transported to mainland China and other Asian markets. With different trade policies form those in Chinese cities, more fruit and vegetables are allowed to be imported into Hong Kong, allowing for more diversified market supply.
For example, Mr. Chen Liang from Hong Kong Wenhui Co., Ltd. said that many products are imported in order to meet the demand of consumers in Hong Kong, as a large part of the population is from overseas. In addition, Hong Kong's dependence on food imports is strong because local production cannot meet market demand. “We import a variety of vegetables and supply a number of local hotels and restaurants. We see that such customers purchase imported vegetables mainly to meet the demand of hotel guests.” 
Hong Kong Wenhui Co., Ltd., located in Hong Kong Vegetable Wholesale Market, imports different types of vegetables for wholesale and supplies products to hotels and restaurants. In addition, they have their own vegetation production in mainland China that is supplied to Hong Kong. “The wholesale market here operates in the evening, as most hotels and restaurants need to get their supplies in the early morning. Most of the time, the first containers arrive at around 12:00; then the containers are loaded. The busiest time for the wholesale market is between 2 am and 4 am. During this time, everyone is buying and selling their goods. After the peak period, people wrap up, prepare orders and send them out." 
Chen Liang observed some difficulties they need to overcome in the sales market. “For us, there are many different customers every day, and each order is different. This puts a lot of pressure on our team, because orders vary every day, and all of our customers want their orders to be perfect. For example, one day they may make a small order for a certain vegetable, and then suddenly make a much larger order the next day, which is a common occurrence that is difficult to predict.
"Our mission is always being able to deliver goods and handling orders with a flexible approach. We are sometimes unable to supply some products, a problem we have to solve as soon as possible because the hotel or restaurant still needs this product. In this case, we would purchase the product from other wholesalers in the market. The cost is naturally higher than our import cost, so this is not the most ideal solution, but for us, being able to deliver the right order is still the most important." 
It is also difficult to set customer pricing because of prices in the wholesale market change every day, depending on market demand and supply. “We tried to set a fixed price for our customers, but most of the time it has been difficult as prices are very volatile. Especially, when a natural disaster occurs somewhere that leads to a drop in production, we won’t be able to predict how the price would go. We have seen that over the past years, more and more online payments are used. We are now adopting as many payment channels as possible, accepting bank payments, online payments, and cash." 
Chen Liang's company is looking at the possibility of exporting vegetables to Southeast Asian countries in the future. “At the moment, we only focus on imported goods, but we have our own production center in China that can produce good-quality products. Therefore, we are considering the possibility of exporting our products abroad.” 
More information:
Contact: Chen Liang
Company: Hong Kong Wenhui Co., Ltd.
Tel: +86 178 1794 7601 / +852 6063 7368
Email: leung_seven@hotmail.com